The Time Architect
by PhoenixStargirl
Summary: Ordinary old Emily soon finds everything in her world turned upside down when a man named The Doctor enters her life. During the time of the Tenth Doctor. R & R.
1. Prologue: The Blue Box

Disclaimer: The Doctor Who ideas, main characters, and places all mentioned in the BBC show do not belong to me. They belong to BBC. The only things that belong to me are the new characters and the story line. Enjoy.

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_Doctor Who: The Time Architect_

Prologue: The Blue Box

"Half past eleven. He should be here by now."

Emily checked her watch again. Indeed, it was eleven-thirty. Their comrade should have arrived at least fifteen minutes prior, but no. As always, he was late.

"Why do we even bother telling him to come right at the exact time? We should have told him to be here an hour ago."

Emily couldn't help but laugh. "He'd still be late." She looked over at her friend, Samantha. "You'd think after a while he'd figure out how to use a clock."

"Or buy a watch."

At the pounding of footsteps approaching, the two girls turned to see their late friend arriving at last. He looked like he had just run a triathalon, which he probably had just to get there.

"Speak of the devil," chucked Samantha.

"Well once you catch your breath, Harry, you can tell us your story of why you're late."

Harry looked up from his position. "No story today. Just late." He wasn't panting any longer, but he was still breathing hard.

"As usual," Samantha jokingly scolded. "Now come on; let's get going. We still have time to get some chips before that movie starts. I've been starving while waiting all morning for you to arrive."

"There you go again, nagging about food," Harry retorted. "You could have gotten something to eat if you knew I was going to be late. But no, you insist on yelling at me anyway."

"I was not yelling!"

"Were too."

Emily stayed silent as the two continued to squabble like an old married couple, which likely they some day would be considering how they got along. Emily's mind continued to wander. Samantha and Harry, were so lucky to have found one another.

Emily's life so far had been a dull bore, to put it lightly. A boyfriend here or there, but nothing really serious. She had been too busy with school and work, trying to get into Oxford. Times that she got to spend with her friends were scarce and precious, but at the same time, they were becoming dull and boring. All the three of them did together was the same old things week after week, month after month, year after year. It all melted together until it got to the point where it seemed like they had been doing this since the beginning of time itself.

Emily's mind was so off, she couldn't even watch the movie properly, let alone join in the discussion afterwards. What did finally snap her out of her daze though, was a sound she had never heard before. It sounded like some sort of machine.

"Can you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Harry asked?

"It was over there."

Completely ignoring the bewildered looks on her friends' faces, Emily hurried ahead a few blocks before turning down an alleyway, then stopping in her tracks.

"Em! What are you going on about-" Samantha's short in mid sentence, eyes also on what Emily was staring at, Harry right behind her. "What is that?"

"Can't you read?" Harry asked, acting like his scientifically nerdy self again. "It says 'Police Box' at the top."

"What's a police box, genius?" Samantha asked back with just as much attitude and sarcasm.

"Really, Sam," Harry retorted. "You need to read more. It was used to hold criminals until police arrived."

"Forget what it is," Emily said, somewhat entranced by the box. "What's it randomly doing in the middle of an alleyway?"

"Maybe just a joke," Harry concluded. "Or stored for some party or something?"

"But that doesn't make sense. Why store something in an alleyway where it could be damaged or vandalized?"

"Here's a question." Samantha's impatient voice interrupted their thoughts. "Why are we even talking about something that doesn't pertain to us? Come on, I want to get to the bookstore before it gets too crowded." With that, she turned and left them there.

"Samantha! Wait up!"

Harry left Emily alone, who couldn't really seem to take her eyes off the mysterious blue box. There was something about it, just screaming for her attention. But how could some ordinary piece of wooden history be so special?

"Emily! Let's go!" Samantha's voice called out from the street.

"Coming!" Emily finally peeled her gaze away from it. However a question wasn't so kind, still rolling around in her mind hours after they left that alleyway: what was a 1950's blue police box doing in the middle of a London alleyway in the twenty-first century?


	2. Just a Stranger

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Disclaimer: The Doctor Who ideas, main characters, and places all mentioned in the BBC show do not belong to me. They belong to BBC. The only things that belong to me are the new characters and the story line. Enjoy.

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Doctor Who: The Time Architect

Chapter 1 Just a Stranger

As expected, the bookstore visit was crowded and exceptionally boring for Emily, who preferred borrowing books from the library rather than buying them. In doing so, she never had to waste money on books that could be potentially only worth enough to be used in place of firewood.

Samantha, on the other had, always bought every book--bestseller or flop--ever written. She had redone her parents' basement into her own personal library and could buy a new mini cooper with the amount of written works she owned.

"How can you even earn enough money to pay for all these books?" Harry asked her, picking up a copy of the book Samantha was about to purchase, glancing at the front cover before quickly putting it down. "Forget that question. How can you read this book? Just the cover gives me the creeps."

Emily couldn't agree more. As much as she admired reading, simply the cover of the new bestseller, the reason why the bookstore was so full, was enough to give her the creeps.

"_Paranoia_?" Emily asked, glancing at it herself. "Authored by Ima F. Legend? I've never heard of her." The cover of the book was completely black except for a pair of eyes staring out almost through whoever was staring right back.

"It's supposed to be really good. And scary. There aren't that many actual scary books out there, you know."

"Speak for yourself," Harry mumbled.

Emily laughed, "Harry, cartoons scare you. And Samantha, you shouldn't be so quick to talk. Books may not scare you, but movies sure do."

"Well, you're not buying the book either, Em," retorted Samantha.

"You know me and bookstores," Emily replied, turing to walk with her friends toward the checkout when she bumped into someone.

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry!" She hurriedly apologized, helping the gentleman whom she had bumped into, knocking down his merchandise.

"Oh, its alright," he replied, taking back his own copy of _Paranoia_ before adjusting his glasses to get a better look at her.

Emily wasn't sure what to think, he was certainly dressed oddly, once you took the time to actually look over him. He was wearing a brown suit and overcoat with white tennis shoes. His hair was very unkept and he even had sideburns. But what was most unusual was his gaze. He was looking at her as though he could see right through her, just like the book he was holding. Only this was different; less haunting and more calculating.

"Excuse me," he finally broke the silence, walking past and out of the shop. All too soon, however. Emily's eye caught sight of two other things he had dropped and forgotten to pick up. The first was the bookmark that came with the purchase of the book. The second, she wasn't sure what it was really.

"Wait! You dropped your... thing." To her that's all she could think of to call it at the moment, a thing. She had never seen a trinket like it before. It looked like some sort of metal pen with a blue light at the end. Some sort of futuristic looking laser pointer, perhaps? She pressed one of the side buttons. Well, it certainly did light up, but this would have been the first laser pointer she'd ever come across that actually made a noise.

"Odd," she muttered to herself, pocketing the small device. Either an odd number of strange things were happening that day, or she was starting to go crazy with the amount of stress she was putting on herself. She hopped it was the ladder, because that would mean she wouldn't have to worry about any more than she'd have to.

The saleswoman at the front desk--her name tag read 'Emelia'--was now finishing Samantha's order. She had her eyes fixed on Emily, watching her with an odd stare.

"That man you were talking to," she said, "who was he?"

"I'm not sure. Just a stranger in passing," she said, before quickly following her friends out of the store. Not only was she relieved to be out of the saleswoman's gaze, but out of the crowded store as well.

"Oh, finally," Samantha sighed, taking the book from the bag and staring at it in awe. "I've waited six months for this to hit the shelves. It was well worth the wait."

"You waited six months for that thing?" Harry asked. "Couldn't you have waited two more weeks until the stores were a little less crowded?" Emily silently agreed. How someone could wait half a year for one mere book to be published was beyond her.

"Anyway," Samantha continued, as though she hadn't heard a word they had said, "look at this bookmark. Its got a little pendant on it, pretty nice to actually come free with the book. Brilliant, don't you think?"

"Looks more like a bunch of shavings of metal sautered together and tied to a piece of cardboard, if you ask me," Emily commented, looking over it. To her it was just some ordinary bookmark but she was used to Samantha getting overly excited about these sorts of things.

Samantha childishly stuck her tongue out at Emily. "Only you would find a book unexciting, Emily."

"It's not the book I find boring," Emily corrected her.

"Speak for yourself," Samantha replied, ignoring Emily's attempt to finish her sentence. "I've got to get home. Are we still getting together for fish and chips tomorrow?"

"Sorry, no," Emily replied. "I have to go shopping for my sister. She's got an interview tomorrow."

"I'll be there," Harry replied.

"Right, see you tomorrow then."

"You two have fun," Emily called before turning down another street. She was used to walking home alone, in fact she preferred it that way. Someone wouldn't be breathing down her neck about random and uncomfortable conversation topics.

As usual, Emily found the door unlocked, as her sister always forgotten to do on her way out. She locked the door behind her and moved into the kitchen to set her things down before washing up, taking out a few pans to begin to cook dinner with.

A noise in the other room caught her attention. She knew her sister wasn't home. Could it have been that she left a window open and some breeze came through?

Playing it safe, or it could have been that she forgot she was still holding a frying pan, she slowly moved from the kitchen into the side room. Emily was keeping out of view of the doorway so as if there was any intruder she wouldn't be seen and then jumped.

Sure enough, as she peered her head around the doorway, someone started walking out of the door. There were two screams of surprise and then a bang. The intruder would have felt a great deal of pain in his head before he hit the ground as Emily's frying pan came in contact with the side of his head.

It took a few seconds for Emily to calm down before she finally recognized the intruder. It was the man from the bookstore. Had he been following her? Well, following her or not, she saw he had rummaged around the study, obviously looking for something.

A groan escaped him and Emily jumped back in fright, brandishing her 'weapon' in case he tried to attack her.

"Oh, ow... that really hurt."

"Serves you right!" Emily scolded in a high frightened voice. "Barging into someone's home like this. What the hell are you doing in here anyway?"

"Can you tone it down just a bit?" he asked, looking up and rubbing his head where a small bump had probably formed. "A bang to the head with a frying pan and then a scolding really gives you a splitting headache."

"Do you want another hit?" she asked, raising the pan again.

"No! No!" he replied quickly, holding up his hands to surrender. "Once was enough, thank you." He rubbed his head again. "Wouldn't have any ice would you?"

Emily watched him, still confused and more curious now. He didn't seem threatening, and the more she watched him, the less defensive she grew.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor," he replied. "Do you mind getting some ice?"

"If you're a doctor, fix your injury yourself," Emily replied. She didn't know why she was having this conversation. She should have phoned the police ages ago, shouldn't she? Still, she felt slightly bad about hurting him.

"Not a doctor," he corrected her. "_The_ Doctor. And would it change anything if I said 'please?'"

Emily stood internally arguing with herself for a moment before walking back off to the kitchen. Se came back, a towel of ice in place of her weapon.

"Alright," she said, handing him the ice. "Explain this to me, Doctor. Why am I feeling bad about hurting you when it was you who broke into my house?"

"Oh, instinct of survival," he explained, putting the ice to his head. "Part of being a human. You get rid of anything potentially threatening, but you stick and help others to survive so you won't be alone. See, that's what's so interesting about human species, you strive to be the only ones, and yet you don't want to be alone. It's part of being human, nothing special for you."

Emily watched him, slightly amused at his manner of speaking, and yet at the same time still confused. "Do you always make this much sense?"

The Doctor glanced up at her. "Am I not making sense?"

Emily shook her head. "Nope."

"Oh good," the Doctor gave her an odd smile. "You didn't hit my head as hard as I thought then."

"Okay," Emily finally said, getting tired of loosing her anger with the stranger. "Why are you even here anyway. Start talking or I'll phone the police."

"Oh, come on," the Doctor replied. "There's no need to get the police involved is there? Just a bit of coming breaking and entering. It's not like I tried to hurt anything."

Emily raised her eyebrow. "Fine, forget the police. I'll just go get my frying pan again." She turned to head out of the door.

"Alright, alright!" he called, quickly getting up to follow her. "Please, no more hits on the head."

"Then start talking," Emily concluded, folding her arms.

"Yesterday I dropped my screwdriver in the bookstore, and my sources told me you would have it. So I came here."

Emily looked skeptical. "Screwdriver?" She didn't remember him dropping anything that remotely looked like a screwdriver.

"Yep," he replied. "My screwdriver. It's sonic."

"Sonic screwdriver?" she repeated, starting to think a mental hospital would better suit this man than a jail cell. "There's no such thing."

The Doctor gave an exasperated sigh. "It looks like a little metal tube thing. And when you press a button it makes a noise and a blue light comes on."

"Oh, you mean this?" she asked, pulling out the small device she had picked up off the bookstore's floor earlier that day.

"Yes!" he exclaimed, grabbing the so-called screwdriver from her hand and kissing it. "That's it! Thank you. See you later."

"Hold up a minute!" she called after him as he headed out, following him out of the house. "You can't just break into someone's house and then just walk away!"

"It's not like I stole or damage anything," he replied, not even giving her the courtesy of looking back at her.

"You left a huge mess in the study that I'm going to have to clean up!"

The Doctor winced. "Oh, right. Well, I do apologize about that." He gave her a sympathetic look before turning to walk off again.

"Hold up!" she called, grabbing the sleeve of his arm to keep him from getting too far away. "You can't just trespass on someone's property and then just waltz away like it's no big deal!"

"Look," he said turning to her. "I really have something I have to be doing. It's big. It's bad. It could change the course of the future. And now that I have my sonic screwdriver back," he waved the small device in front of her, "I can actually get to work on stopping it. Now if you excuse me." He turned again to head down the road.

Emily watched him a moment before finally following him at a quick pace so he wouldn't get too far ahead. If there was something so important that his ignorance of the law didn't matter, she wanted to know about it.


	3. Bigger on the Inside

Disclaimer: The Doctor Who ideas, main characters, and places all mentioned in the BBC show do not belong to me. They belong to BBC. The only things that belong to me are the new characters and the story line. Enjoy.

* * *

_Doctor Who: The Time Architect_

Chapter 2 Bigger on the Inside

"So your job is to fly around and save time?" Emily asked disbelievingly, still following the Doctor. She had been following him asking him questions for the past five minutes.

"You sound like you don't believe me," he commented, still walking on.

"I don't," she replied.

"Ah," he said, finally stopping to look at her. "But if you don't believe me, and you still think I'm a threat, why haven't you called the police yet?" he asked wisely.

Emily faultred in her answer. Why was she following if she didn't believe him? She honestly couldn't answer him. The only reasoning she could find behind still following him was that she was just curious beyond reasoning.

"That's the question, isn't it?" he asked, smirking before walking off again.

"But, wait," she asked. "You have to have some sort of proof if your story is true. If you travel in space and time, you'd have to have some sort of UFO, wouldn't you? I haven't seen anything strange like that around here."

"You mean those giant flying frizbe things with the balls in the center that people think space ships look like? No. I have a space ship."

"No," Emily argued. "Someone would have seen it. Reported it. It would be all over the papers."

"Not all space ships are huge and odd looking," he replied, continued forward. Emily finally saw what he was headed for: the same blue police box she had seen earlier that day in a completely different location.

"That's you're space ship?" she asked sarcastically. "That little wooden box?"

"Hey, that's my spaceship you're talking about." The Doctor sounded mildly offended as he pulled out a small key and placing it in the door keyhole.

"But that can't be a space ship," Emily retorted, walking all around it and coming back up next to the Doctor. "You need engines, a crew, you need space for fuel. How can you fit all that in a little police box?"

The Doctor turned the key. "It's bigger on the inside."

He opened the door and went in, keeping it open, Emily guessed, in case she wanted to come in as well. It was dark inside, and she couldn't see two feet in front of her. It was confusing because the box was only so deep, yet it seemed so much deeper than it should have been.

"There is no way it could be bigger on the-" her sentence stopped there when she entered and the lights came on. Her voice was much softer and in awe "-inside..."

"Told you," he said with a smile, playing with some of the buttons on the center controls around a huge center pillar.

Emily couldn't help but walk further into the space ship, looking around. "Impossible," she whispered. She had never seen the likes of something like this before. It was completely bizarre and unimaginable, it was beyond amazing.

"Nope," the Doctor replied, taking out his screwdriver again and putting his glasses back on. "Just improbable."

Emily looked over at him again, watching curiously what he was doing. He was hunched over something she couldn't see, pressing the button on his screwdriver so that it lit up and made that weird noise. She walked over. "What are you doing?"

The Doctor looked up, shoving whatever he was working on out of sight so she couldn't get a look at it. "Alien stuff," he replied.

"Alien stuff?" she inquired.

"Yeah, you know. Little green men with large bald heads and black eyes?"

Emily narrowed her eyes, though a smile formed on her face. "Alright, if this really is a space ship, I suppose there are aliens. So what sort of 'alien stuff' are you looking for?"

"Nothing you would be at all interested in," he replied.

"Enlighten a curious girl," she replied with a smile.

The Doctor took a breath and thought for a moment. "Imagine for a moment, that there was someone who crossed paths with themselves in time."

"A paradox?" she asked.

The Doctor gave her an impressed smile. "You are smart."

"Don't press your luck," Emily warned.

"Right," he continued. "A paradox. And that paradox was you, but your future self. You could ask yourself anything. Now, what would you do if you found out something you didn't like about your future?"

Emily answered without hesitation. "I'd change it."

"Exactly," he answered. "And if you change it, you change the whole of time and space. You change your entire future. You could die younger, destroy entire planets, galaxies for creating these paradoxes."

"So someone is passing through time and telling someone to change their own past?" Emily concluded, smiling at her own brilliance.

"No," the Doctor concluded.

"So then what was the point of telling me all that?" inquired Emily, rather annoyed again.

"Because," he explained, "this is about someone paradoxing, which creates a very bad hole in time and space as it is, to make sure something happens to their own life."

"But isn't it a good thing to make sure it happens?" she asked.

The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair, taking his glasses off. Emily could tell he was getting rather annoyed at the fact that she wasn't following him. Well, serves him right for trespassing and not making sense, Emily concluded.

"Creating a paradox ruins time," he continued. "It ruins the whole time can be changed, it moves on its own. Basically two of the same things can't be seen together in the same period of time. It's impossible."

Emily smirked. "Improbable, not impossible," she responded. The Doctor gave her a look, which made her chuckle. "Sorry. I couldn't resist."

"Its a wonder how you humans tolerate each other," he mumbled.

"You mean, you're not human?" she asked.

"Time Lord," he replied. "Two hearts. I'm a much more advanced species, no offense to you."

"Okay, Time Lord," she cut in sarcastically. She really didn't care if this Doctor was from some far away galaxy that didn't even exist. She just wanted to know why he was acting like a hero of the universe. "Finish with your explanation."

"Basically someone is crossing their own timeline. And if they continue doing it, its going to destroy all of time and space around them."

"Oh," Emily nodded, finally understanding his explanation. "Well, why didn't you just say that in the first place?" She found it hard to imagine that anyone could ever understand someone who talked like the Doctor did. It was like a rocket scientist trying to explain the quantum theory to a toddler.

"Because you wouldn't have understood it," the Doctor said.

"Because I'm human?" Emily asked with a testing edge and a raised eyebrow.

"Yes. No! Do you always asked this many questions?" he asked faltering over his words so as not to offend her.

"Yes. Humans are curious after all."

The Doctor crossed his arms, watching her carefully. She could tell her actions and words were amusing him.

"So where is this paradox person?" Emily asked. She felt like a sort of detective who could help solve some sort of murder case or similar. Finding this Doctor made her feel as though she could step out of her ordinary life, if this just one time, and do something meaningful and extraordinary.

"This paradox person is in the land of 'it's none of your business' so you may as well go back home," he stated in a final sort of tone.

Emily wouldn't take no for an answer. "I got you your screwdriver back! I want to help you!"

"After you hit me in the head with a frying pan, which by the way still hurts," he replied, rubbing his head again.

"Well, good," Emily retorted; it was the only comeback she could think of. She really wanted to help, but she found it frustrating that he refused to allow her help. "I hope you're headache stays with you for the rest of time." With that she stormed out of the door and slammed it behind her, hoping to intensify the pain in his head as she did so.

It was dark already and the stars had come out. Emily was thankful for them, and the moonlight as she walked down the familiar streets back to where she lived. She didn't care how much before she wanted to help anymore, she just wanted to get as far away from that crazy doctor man as humanly possible.

At home, she was back to her normal life. Thankfully she was able to finish dinner and dishes before her sister got home. However she wasn't lucky enough to get away from questions about the destroyed study. Emily was able to bypass the awkward questions by promising to clean it all herself the next day, including the shopping she had promised in addition.

However, something lingered, making her want to go back to the blue police box, where things were bigger on the inside. She wanted to go back and see if she could help, but something inside her kept telling her that she was too late, her chance to make a difference had passed. The police box would be long gone.

Emily had trouble sleeping that night, wondering if it had all been real, the past days events. She knew it had been, but still, his words had been too unbelievable to be real.

However, she refused to believe it had all been her imagination, because if she had imagined it all up that would mean something that made Emily most uncomfortable of all: her life was still as ordinary as ever.


	4. Paranoia

Disclaimer: The Doctor Who ideas, main characters, and places all mentioned in the BBC show do not belong to me. They belong to BBC. The only things that belong to me are the new characters and the story line. Enjoy.

* * *

_Doctor Who: The Time Architect_

Chapter 3: _Paranoia_

As disappointing as it was, the Doctor's blue police box had disappeared by the next morning. Emily had hoped deep down he would still be there, at least long enough for her to apologize and try to offer help one last time. It was wishful thinking, however, and Emily was forced to go about her daily life once again.

She awoke early to clean the study as promised and also go shopping. Emily would have given anything not to be toting around bags of groceries, mail and other household supplies she had to buy. Her last stop, however, brought her back to the book store.

As was yesterday, front shelves were still lined with _Paranoia_ as if no one had come in the day before. Emily bypassed these shelves and picked up the books her sister had listed for her before setting them on the front counter.

"Back again?" the saleswoman asked, placing the books in a bag for her.

Emily looked up, recognizing the voice. It was Emelia, the same bookstore clerk as the previous day. Emily gave her a small smile, "Yes, ma'am. Just picking up a few books for my sister."

"Well, I hope she enjoys them," the saleswoman replied with a smile, handing her the shopping bag filled with Emily's purchase.

"She'd better," Emily mumbled, turning without a second glance and walking out of the door.

The trip home was uneventful and unamusing, unlike yesterday when she met the Doctor. It seemed as though that one day had been a chance out of a million, but that chance was up, gone.

The rest of the day dragged on slowly and painfully. As she had dropped out of Samantha's invitation to go hang out with her and Harry, there was nothing more for her to do the rest of the day besides straighten up the already clean house. Things didn't get much more exciting when her sister came home again.

"How was the interview?" Emily asked.

"Like all the others. It was pointless and horrible. There was no way I got the job," her sister slumped down in the couch.

"Well with an attitude like that, it's no wonder no one will hire you, Anna" Emily commented, grabbing the bag of books and setting it next to her sister. "Here's your books."

"Thanks," Anna smiled gratefully up at her younger sister. "You know I wouldn't have you doing these things for me if you were in school or had a job."

"No," Emily laughed. "You'd wait until I came home in the evening." She knew her sister better than to just think she would do things herself all of a sudden. She'd lived with Anna much too long.

Anna laughed with her sister. "So what are your plans for the next few hours?"

Emily shook her head, "I'll probably just get to bed early. I promised I would help Mrs. Underguft with her garden bright and early tomorrow. She said she'd pay me this time."

"Bless your heart," Anna said, getting up and hugging Emily. "You really are too sweet to be my sister. I'm sure Mrs. Underguft, being new to the neighborhood, appreciates you helping her."

"Yeah, yeah," Emily said, pulling away from Anna with a smirk. "Any more praise and you may as well crown me. Just don't forget to do the breakfast dishes tomorrow."

"I'll do them. Night, Emily," Anna said, walking over to the sofa to get her books.

The next morning wasn't much of a huge excitement either. As every day, Emily got up, got dressed, and left her room for breakfast. She passed the study, where her sister was hunched over a desk, reading a book.

"I didn't know you were up this early," Emily called.

"I couldn't sleep," Anna's voice came as a reply. It sounded drained and tired.

"Well, you're exhausted," Emily said. "Why don't you go to bed? I'll wake you up when I come back home."

Anna raised her hand as a wave goodbye, still keeping her eyes locked on the book in front of her.

Emily shrugged it off, going to the kitchen for her breakfast before heading next door to help with her neighbor's gardening as promised. Luckily it wasn't much hard work, mostly re-mulching and watering, but it was still a large garden. They paused halfway through their work for lemonade and sandwiches. Emily couldn't help but glance around.

"This is a lovely home you have," she commented.

"Why thank you," the elder woman smiled. "My daughter comes by every so often to clean it."

"I didn't know you had a daughter, Mrs. Underguft," Emily commented. "She does a wonderful job. Well, should we get back to the garden?"

Hours later, Emily was gently rubbing the back of her neck where she was sure she had a sunburn, as well as the rest of her exposed skin. Curses for forgetting sunscreen, she thought to herself as she opened the front door and entered the cool house.

The first thing she noticed when she walked in was that the breakfast dishes were still in the sink. She let out an exasperated sigh.

"Anna. You promised to do the dishes," she called in mild frustration, moving from the kitchen toward the back of the house, but stopped at the study. Anna was in the same spot, still as a statue hunched over a book. Emily took a step forward.

"Anna?"

No reply came from her sister. Instead she felt a jerk from behind. A hand had come over her mouth and someone pulled her back into the hall as she attempted to let out a surprised yell.

Once she had been pushed against the hall wall, she was able to see who had tugged her away. It was the Doctor, and he had his finger to his lips.

"What do you think you're doing here again!" she asked in a harsh whisper.

"Shhh," he said, raising his hand to indicate she needed to lower her voice. "You need to come with me now."

"What's the meaning of this, ordering me around. This is my house, and you're trespassing again-" Her words were cut off by something grabbing her throat.

The next few seconds were thrown into a state of blur. Emily had no idea what was going on, and there was some sort of ringing in her ears. Whatever had grabbed her neck had finally let go and she was able to breathe again, abiet with support from the wall of course. Her sister lay unconscious on the ground and the Doctor was holding the screwdriver, stuffing something into his pocket.

"What did you do to her?" Emily cried, leaning over to help her sister up.

The Doctor grabbed her arm and pulled her away. "She's alright, just knocked out a bit is all. You, however are coming with me." He pulled her out of the house and a few feet from the front door where his space ship stood. He pulled her inside and closed the door before heading over to the central controls.

"Let me go!" Emily yelled, banging on the doors of the ship. "Let me out! Help! Anna!"

"It's not safe for you out there. You've been seen with me," the Doctor said, flipping a switch.

The entire ship lurched, causing Emily to be thrown backwards, away from the doors. "Let me out!" she screamed, pulling her way back to them to bang on them with all the strength she could muster.

"Quit hitting the TARDIS!" the Doctor yelled over her screaming. "And quit acting like I'm kidnapping you! You're not safe out there, not right now. They've seen you with me, and that's a very very bad thing."

"Let me go!" she screamed a final time.

"I can't!" he yelled back. "If I let you go back, they'll find you. Which means they'll find the TARDIS, which means they'll find me! And that's a very bad thing! I want to find out what this person is up to before they know I'm here."

"Well, I'm sorry for being such an inconvenience!"

"Not at all," he replied. "Just a pain at the moment."

He pulled another leaver and the lurching finally stopped. By this time, Emily had calmed down enough that she was no longer screaming. Instead she stalked over to the Doctor determinedly. "Who could have seen me? We were the only three in the room."

"We were the only three living people in the room," he replied, pulling his hand from his pocket, revealing a book. The eyes on the cover stared back at her with an odd gleam.

"How did that fit in you're pocket?" she asked, unable to take her eyes away from the book. It was as if they were staring into her very soul.

"They're bigger on the inside. But that's beside the point." He pulled the book away from Emily's gaze, snapping her back to reality. She felt slightly light headed.

"Then what is the point?" she asked, following him back over to the control panel where he had a second copy of the same book. Only this copy didn't seem to have much more effect on her other than to creep her out.

"It's a photoscropic cell combined with stable moderators and a communication chip." At her odd and confused look, he added, 'It's a camera built into the book. Basically it hypnotizes the reader to be it's 'stand' so its free to roam around and check everything around it out. But for some reason this one isn't transmitting a signal." The Doctor pointed to the copy that was still out. "It just doesn't make sense."

"How did my sister even get a copy of that book?" Emily asked. "I didn't buy it from the bookstore for her and nobody else would have lent it to her; they'd still be reading it."

"Well," the Doctor said, pulling out the second book, carefully so that the other copy's eyes didn't catch his or Emily's in a cross gaze, "what's the difference between these two books?"

He began flipping through both their pages, setting aside the bookmark in the one so he could easily access every detail in the book. He even went as far as taking off the inner lining of the covers and the binding with his sonic screwdriver to see if he could find anything.

"What could it be?" he asked, his voice obviously riddled with frustration.

Emily couldn't help but watch him. She had to agree, both books looked exactly the same. Were exactly the same. Front to rear cover, each page following page, the same creepy eyes staring out at you.

"Why in a book, though?" she asked.

"I'm sorry?" The Doctor looked up at her.

"Why hide a camera in a book? What's the point behind it."

"Well," the Doctor said, "a book is the last place you'd likely find a camera. The book was even designed in the way that even as it looks at you, you feel as though you're being watched. The name, _Paranoia_, the eyes on the cover, all as a coverup for the actual gadget inside." He was watching the second book with an interesting gaze now. "Except..."

"Except what?" Emily asked.

"Oh, ho!" he exclaimed suddenly. "The second one isn't working now. Which means something's changed between the time we left your house and right now. Think! Think, think, think. What's changed?"

"I don't know," Emily replied. "You took the bookmark out."

The Doctor paused and looked over at her. A huge smile crept onto his face. "Oh, aren't you nice to have around? Yes! The bookmark!"

The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver again, holding it up to the bookmark. His grin widened, and his voice was higher, more excited this time. "Oh, brilliant!"

"What is it?" Emily asked, walking up so she could get a closer look.

"It's a bookmark," he said, holding it out for her to see, "by itself of course. But combined with this particular book, its so much more! You see that little pendant there?"

"The thing that looks like a bunch of metal wires melted together?" she asked.

"Exactly right," the Doctor commented. "That's exactly what it is. It's a carbon processed hydrogauge cell generator with a six cylindar base and micro transmitter for audio and video."

Emily blinked. "What's a carbon processed hydro thing..." She gave up on trying to follow his huge vocabulary. "What does it do?

"It's basically a battery and transmitter all in one," he explained, his smile still growing. Emily found it disturbing how he found something, which he claimed was dangerous, so fascinating.

"So" she concluded, "if the book is a camera, and the bookmark is a transmitter, then someone is spying on our city?"

"Oh not just the city," the Doctor replied, eyes still on the small device. "Anyone who buys the book worldwide. This technology is brilliant!"

Emily tried to gain his attention back. "But why would anyone want to spy on us?"

"I don't know," he said, his quirky smile growing, "but it's still brilliant."


	5. Ima F Legend

Disclaimer: The Doctor Who ideas, main characters, and places all mentioned in the BBC show do not belong to me. They belong to BBC. The only things that belong to me are the new characters and the story line. Enjoy.

A/N: Warning. There is slight 'preview' for a possible future graffic sequence. You have been warned. Also for those who haven't noticed and are interested, there is a poll about this story on the author page about this story.

* * *

_Doctor Who: The Time Architect_

Chapter 4: Ima F. Legend

"Whoever created this double device has to be exceptionally clever," the Doctor finally concluded after being mesmerized by the microscopic battery-transmitter. "And I never say that because, well, I'm exceptionally clever."

"Am I supposed to be impressed by that?" Emily inquired.

"Well," he scratched his head, "yeah. Because I am really clever."

"You know, people usually call that arrogance," Emily commented. "And as alien as you may be, you need to know that arrogance is frowned upon in this society."

"How am I being arrogant?" the Doctor asked, looking really confused and almost hurt. His voice had turned small, quick and slightly high pitched again.

"You called yourself clever."

"Because I am."

"Oh, never mind." Emily didn't want to spend an hour arguing with him. "Anyway, Clever One, answer me this. What happened back at my house?"

The Doctor took a deep breath, rubbing the back of his neck. He obviously didn't want to explain what just happened, because Emily wouldn't have liked it.

"Whoever is doing this is obviously looking for something, or someone," he explained. "They're using the people as dummies, camera stands if you will, as ways of looking all around. Anyone who starts to read is hooked on the book, forced to do whatever whoever is behind it 's bidding."

"Basically the author?" she asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "Unfortunately it isn't that easy." He picked up one of the books and held it out for her. "Read the author's name."

"Ima F. Legend," she read, looking back at him confused. "Its just a name. I don't get it."

"Flip to the last page where the author's note is," he instructed, putting his glasses on.

Emily flipped to the last page and did as instructed.

_Ima Future Legend was born far away, having no real fame until her novel _Paranoia_ was published this year. She seeks for higher and greater achievements in the future where she knows she will create history and make her future prosperous._

"There's absolutely nothing in here about the author." Emily said, slightly outraged. "It's all garble and gibberish that means nothing! It's like she's a phony!"

"Because she is a phony. Read the name," the Doctor instructed again. "That is one crucial piece of information anyone can get from this."

"Ima Future Legend?" she looked up at him, only half understanding what he was saying. "I'm a future legend?"

"It's a pen name," he concluded

"But why?" she asked. "Anyone who reads this author's note is going to know instantly there's something strange about the name and the author itself."

"Who reads author's notes?" the Doctor asked.

Emily didn't have a response for that.

"No one ever reads those author's notes," he explained. "And whoever did write this is extremely arrogant and wanted anyone who did figure it out that she was important in the future whether they liked it or not."

"That's not saying much coming from you," Emily mumbled.

The Doctor gave her a small look, telling her to keep quiet. Emily obliged for once, her curiosity building again, and her desire to help growing with it as well. After several long minutes, however, she couldn't keep quiet.

"So, do you know who she is?" Emily asked.

"It may not even be a she," the Doctor commented. "It's only a pen name after all. But I do have some idea who we're dealing with now."

"Who is it?"

"I've heard a couple of times, when I was in the future, of someone who called themselves 'The Architect.'"

"Like you call yourself 'The Doctor?'" she inquired. She was finally starting to understand what was going on, only to a small degree, though. She still needed to know why things were happening and what for.

"Yes," the Doctor said, mild impatience and offense etched in his voice, "but they aren't like me. I'm a Time Lord." After a pause, he added, "The last Time Lord. From what I've heard of this 'Architect,' they act like a Time Lord, but there are small things that indicate they can't be one. They're using these books to find what they want."

Emily wondered how he knew so much. But then something struck her that hadn't before, something important.

"You said, this happens to anyone that has a book?" she asked, slightly more nervous than before.

"Yes."

Emily ran as fast as she could to the door, and by some miracle it opened this time.

She could hear the doctor calling after her, telling her to stop, that it was dangerous to go back outside, but she refused to listen to him. Not only did her sister have one of those books, but her best friend had bought one the day before.

Emily had to take a second once the doors opened to look around; somehow she had ended up, no longer in front of her house, but now in the middle of an alleyway again, and the fact that dusk had begun was not helping the matter. Once she made her way to the street she was able to guess her exact location before sprinting off again.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she continued to run. Her sister had already been affected, but there wasn't anything she could really do for her at the moment. Besides, the Doctor had taken that book away from her, so she would be alright. But Samantha knew nothing about the strange happenings.

She was able to make it halfway there before she was finally stopped. Someone had grabbed the back of her shirt from behind, making her almost stumble backwards from the force and choke.

"Doctor, let me go!" she yelled, turning to see who it was. It wasn't the Doctor.

It was Emelia, the clerk from the bookstore.

"You!" Emily shrieked. "You're the one from the bookstore! You're the one causing all of this mayhem aren't you?"

"No," the woman insisted. "I started working in the bookstore because I wanted to keep an eye on the books. I knew there was something odd about them but I didn't know what."

Emily eyed her suspiciously. She didn't know if she could trust her. She didn't know who she could trust with everything that had been going on. "Why did you stop me?"

"Because I recognized you from the bookstore," Emelia answered. "You were the one who bumped into that man, the Doctor."

"You know the Doctor?" Emily inquired, calming down a bit. It this woman knew the Doctor, perhaps she could explain a little better what was going on than he was. At the moment, Emily was fed up with his ongoing rants that never made any sense.

"Who doesn't know the Doctor?"

Emily felt slightly annoyed by this question. If everyone knew the Doctor, then why hadn't she known him until just recently?

"Do you know where he is?" Emelia interrupted her thoughts.

"Somewhere back there, but I'm in a hurry, see?" Emily turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Emelia quickly hurried to follow her. "Perhaps I can help."

Emily didn't answer her; she was in too much of a hurry to check on her best friend. Likewise she did nothing to stop Emelia from following her. If this woman truly knew the Doctor, then perhaps she could in some way help.

Once at Samantha's door, Emily rang the bell continuously before pounding the door with her fist.

"Samantha! Open the door! Please, Samantha!"

"Why not try opening it?" Emelia asked.

Emily jumped from the front porch and tried peering in the front windows to little avail; the curtains were drawn shut tightly. "Because that would be trespassing."

The only reply Emily heard was the sound of the door opening. She quickly turned just in time to see Emelia retreating into the house.

"Hey!" Emily called, quickly hurrying back up to the door. "You can't just do that."

She paused at the front door, looking in the darkened house. Not a single light was turned on from what she could see. "Emelia!" No reply came save for the utter silence that still hung in the air so thick that Emily felt lightheaded.

"Emelia!" she tried again.

"I'm in here," Emelia's soft voice came from within the depths of the house in reply.

Emily took a small step into the house, reaching over to flick the light switch. Nothing happened; a fuse must have blown or the electricity cut off. Emily stepped into the house, feeling her quickened heartbeat and deep breaths louder than a place passing a few feet overhead. She was able to make out soft footsteps deep within the house, though as to whose they belonged to she did not know.

As much as Emily had been here visiting Samantha before, she still had to use the wall as a guide as she made her way further inside. The shadows seemed to hide anything that crept into her imagination, which in turn made her even more uneasy.

Emily had made her way far enough into the house so as she could no loner see the front door. Something large in her way caught her foot, causing her to fall forward with a sickening crash. Her head hit the floor hard, causing what vision she had in this darkness to swim. She tasted blood as she had bit her tongue from the hard fall.

She looked around, trying to find what exactly had gotten in her way, but before she had a chance to see something, or someone had tugged her into a side room. One whisper told her who it was in a second.

"Stay still and quiet," Emelia whispered.

More soft footsteps filled the house as someone else came into view. After her eyes became more adjusted to the dark, she realized it was a girl around her age holding a book to her face as if reading it: Samantha. She had her back to them.

Emily would have called out, but Emelia's hand was held firmly over her mouth. Emily's eyes then wandered to what was lying on the floor. It took her another few moments to realize exactly what the thing that had tripped her was. Her stomach gave a huge jolt when she recognized the 'thing' as Harry.

She had to cover her mouth to keep from gasping, screaming, making any noise at all. His eyes were wide open in terror, but could they be called eyes anymore? There were white and blank, no pupils or irises to be seen.

"My God," she whispered barely taking away her hand. Her mouth didn't stay open for long, however, because Emelia's hand flew over it.

"Don't make a sound," she breathed. "And don't look into the eyes."

What eyes, Emily though. There were no eyes to be seen, but slowly Samantha turned robot-like as if she was a mechanical camera stand. She realized before she saw it the book she was holding. It was held in in exactly the right place so that the eyes on the cover of the book were exactly where Samantha's eyes would have been.

Not giving a thought to it, she quickly shut her eyes tight before the effect could grow on her, the same swimming dizzy effect, as though she were to pass out or something similar. Several long minutes passed where time itself stood still, the intensity of the darkness before footsteps came again, retreating back into the house.

Emily chanced opening her eyes, watching Samantha, or what was left of her,'s retreating back before turning to Emelia, a look that clearly asked what had gone on.

"She couldn't see us," she whispered so even Emily had a hard time hearing her. "Lets get out of here."

Emily followed Emelia's lead, anything to get out of the house. There was nothing she could do at the moment to help her friend for fear of ending up like Harry. If that happened, there was nothing she could ever do to help at all.


	6. Tears Bled

Disclaimer: The Doctor Who ideas, main characters, and places all mentioned in the BBC show do not belong to me. They belong to BBC. The only things that belong to me are the new characters and the story line. Enjoy.

A/N: Warning, this chapter contains mild profanity and some graphic parts. It will be, however, the most graphic chapter in the story.

* * *

_Doctor Who: The Time Architect_

Chapter 5: Tears Bled

The two remained unseen until they reached the front porch. Emily stopped in her tracks at the familiar sight of the blue box, the Doctor standing right in front of it. The look he gave Emily was one of pity, remorse that there was nothing they could do to help her friend at the moment.

Emily's temper boiled. He was just standing there with pity in his eyes. He wasn't doing anything

"You knew she was going to be like this, didn't you?" Emily's voice seethed anger. The intensity only grew when he nodded in reply. "Then why the hell didn't you do anything about it?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I'm trying, I really am, but-"

"But you're not doing anything!" Emily screamed at him. "You sit in your stupid spaceship pretending to find out what's going on, when people are being controlled and attack. And you do nothing about it!"

"I can't save everyone that is already possessed," the Doctor defended himself. "I'm doing what I can to fix it now."

"Like hell you are! I don't even know why I trusted you in the first place-"

"Doctor?"

Emelia's voice cut the conversation all too short. The Doctor turned to her, curiosity crossed his face. "Who are you?"

Emily's irritation sputtered a bit when perplexity got in the way. "I thought you said you knew him," Emily said to Emelia.

"I know him," Emelia replied, unable to take her gaze away from the Doctor. There were so many emotions rolling behind her eyes that Emily couldn't read any of them. "That doesn't mean he knows who I am."

Emily shrank back slightly at the look he was giving Emelia. It was calculating, just as the first time he had looked at Emily. It was similar, but simultaneously very different. Distrust and calculation was etched in his gaze.

"How do you know me?" Emily had never heard the Doctor speak in such a way before. It was a demand to know, not a question. She saw the interrogatee shift her weight in slight discomfort.

"Does it matter?" Emilia asked.

"When I don't know someone and they know me, yes, it is important. Especially in a hectic situation like this. Now what's your name?"

"Emelia."

"Emelia what?" he demanded.

Emily watched their conversation like a tennis match, back and forth when out of nowhere something caught her from behind. She let out a high pitched scream and was forced to turn around. The sight that came to her was a pair of familiar eerie eyes.

"Emily!"

She was unable to look away, the gaze consuming her, driving her vision to be swimming, unable to blink as the cover of the book, the 'camera' seemed to stare into her very soul. She could feel herself growing weaker.

"Emily, don't look at it! Close your eyes!"

Her eyes burned; she wanted to blink but didn't have the ability to. An odd ringing filled her ears as she felt rather than saw herself being pulled away from the controlling gaze. Her eyes rolled themselves into the back of her head; she fell toward the ground, not hitting it just yet. Her body twitched and jolted in spasms and a seizure as her vision turned black.

_Darkness veiled the space in such a thick blanket that sound couldn't even seem to penetrate it and made it hard to breathe if she could was breathing. Slowly, Emily's vision came back to her, though it was not as normal sight should be, and it burned slightly._

_Emily could see her body as if in perfect daylight while everything else around her remained shrouded in darkness._

_"Hello?"_

_No one answered but the echo over her voice around the room. Where was she and how had she gotten there? The last thing she remembered was the Doctor and Emily having a small row in front of Samantha's house and then... she couldn't remember anything else._

_She blinked a few times, the burning temporarily going away as thick tears spilled down her cheeks. She wiped away at them before looking around again._

_"Hello? Doctor?"_

_The silence made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She kept turning around, trying to find out where she was, and all awhile, her eyes kept bleeding tears, forcing her to wipe them away continuously._

_"Doctor?" _

_Emily turned again, this time actually seeing something in the distance. A wooden door. Slowly she made her way to the door with caution, in case something happened to jump out at her from the darkness._

_She had nothing to worry about, though. Nothing attacked her or made any attempt to approach her in any way. She was completely alone in this place, where ever this place was exactly._

_Emily kept her eyes forward as she reached for the door nob, wanting to keep her focus on what was beyond the door. The nob gave a soft squeak of metal as she turned it, the only sound she had heard the entire time she was here save for her own voice._

_The door opened with ease and made no other sound as Emily pushed it, curious as to what she would find on the other side._

_A brightness filled her eyes and Emily forced them closed. rubbing them against more irritation and tears. When she opened them again, everything was red. She blinked again looking around._

_She was in a large empty circular room. There wasn't any furniture save for the tall stand that was at the far end of the room, like a judge's stand._

_"Emily Grace Porter," a woman's voice rang through the room, coming from the top of the stand. Apparently it was not so empty after all._

_The voice was familiar as though she had heard it someplace else, but Emily couldn't quite place it._

_"Yes?" Emily replied back._

_A figure was looking out over the stand, but Emily wasn't able to see her face. A veil was covering her entirely, and had it not been for that, Emily still wouldn't have been able to see her her vision was swimming slightly through the red light and the tears._

_"You called for the Doctor. Where is he?"_

_Emily felt inclined not to answer the woman back at all. She had the powerful voice of an authority. That and Emily had no idea where the Doctor was._

_"You were with him moments ago, were you not?" she practically screamed at the girl before her. She raised her voice to a demanding tone. "Where is he?"_

_"Who are you?" Emily asked._

_"Answer my question, and I shall answer yours."_

_Emily bit her lip, should she tell this stranger about the Doctor? Something eerie afoot about the entire situation. Wasn't this strange woman keeping her hostage? And what if the Doctor was the only one who could save her? Too many questions circled in her mind and wouldn't give a moments rest._

_"Speak!" the woman ordered. "My impatience grows!"_

_Emily wiped away her tears again, which were only replaced by more as her eyes continued to burn. What was causing them to do so?_

_"I don't know where he is," Emily replied. "He might have gone away from where I last saw him."_

_"Then where did you last see him?" the woman commanded. "I demand to know!"_

_"I already answered," Emily protested. "Now tell me who you are."_

_The woman stood, displaying her authority in the room. There was a silence that followed her rising before she finally answered._

_"I am the Time Architect."_

_So this person, this woman, Emily thought, was who the Doctor was looking for. She was the one who was making all these things happen. If only she could find out where here was and escape, she could tell the Doctor who exactly they were after now._

_"I demand to know!" the Architect screamed, "where is the Doctor! Time must be fulfilled! The future must be made! This is no longer the era of the Doctor, but of the Architect!"_

_"But," Emily tried to reason, "the Doctor saves time. Why would you want to stop him?"_

_"The Doctor mends history," the Architect replied. "I make history! He must submit his title as Time Lord to me!"_

_Emily tried to keep her eyes on the Architect, but they wouldn't stop burning. She closed her eyes tightly again and wiped at them._

_"Do your eyes burn?" the Architect asked. "Wash them in the basin before you."_

_Emily opened her eyes a fraction of an inch to see a small basin of water in front of her she had not noticed before. She walked over and dipped her hands in the water before splashing it into her eyes, attempting to wash away whatever was burning them._

_When Emily opened her eyes her vision was suddenly clear. The room had actually been white, and the Architect was wearing white to match. Her face was still distorted by the veil. Emily felt her eyes burning slightly again, another tear rolling down and she wiped it away with her hand._

_The sudden sound of the Architect shrieking made her jump. "You are not complete! Why are you here? How could you have gotten here?"_

_Emily gave her a confused look before something caught her eye. The water in the basin was bright red. In the red water was her reflection. Her eyes were as normal as ever, but the tears were dark and unusual._

_She quickly wiped away another tear and looked down at her hands. Her flipped as she realized what exactly had happened. Her eyes hadn't been tearing up. They were literally bleeding._

_Emily gave a scream, knocking over the basin which spilled onto the floor, breaking it. The blood water splashed onto the ground with a hiss and began eating away everything like acid._

_Her eyes began to burn again as she continued to scream. She needed out! She needed the Doctor. Somehow she knew he was the only one who could fix this, help her wake up from this nightmare._

_"Doctor!"_

_Somehow through her tears she had run back to the door, wrenching the door open before running outward into the oblivious darkness. This time there were whispers that followed her._

_"Doctor!!"_

_Something suddenly caught her foot and forced her to trip, sending her colliding down onto a ground she could not see. Everything was happening to quickly and she was unable to catch her fall. Her head hit a hard surface with a loud thud before everything went completely black once again._


	7. Blind Reasons

Disclaimer: The Doctor Who ideas, main characters, and places all mentioned in the BBC show do not belong to me. They belong to BBC. The only things that belong to me are the new characters and the story line. Enjoy

* * *

_Doctor Who: The Time Architect_

Chapter 6: Blind Reasons

Pain... so much pain... not only her eyes but Emily's entire body was in pain. The hard surface she was lying on wasn't helping either. Her head was still swimming from hitting her head on the hard ground. But had it been real? She couldn't decipher reality from dreams anymore. Too much was going on.

"Emily?"

Was someone calling her name, or was it just a dream? It was still dark and she couldn't tell if she had left the place she had just been or if she was still there. If she had left, she had no desire to return. She would rather have died right then than go back to the place that had made her stomach churn, though for what reason she could not for the life of her remember why.

"Emily?"

Emily stirred slightly at the sound of the now all-too familiar voice. She barely opened her eyes, her vision blurry for several minutes before she recognized her surroundings. She was in the Doctor's spaceship, safe from wherever she had just come from.

"Emily? Can you hear me?"

She turned her head as best as she could against the grate floor; her eyes met a pair staring back at her, kind and worried eyes. Next to him was another familiar pair of eyes, but she couldn't recognize them just yet. She returned to the first pair.

"Doctor?"

The Doctor, Emelia watching from behind him, helped her sit up slowly so as not to make her head rush. She looked around trying to gain grips on what had just happened, it was all a little fuzzy. At the moment all she could hear was the sound of the spaceship; apparently they were moving again. She strived to remember back to what happened.

Just as a wave crashes against the ocean, the memories suddenly came back to her. Her eyes bolted wide and her hands flew to her face, feeling for blood that might have remained there. Emily pulled her hand away from her face. Not a single drop of blood, or even a tear was there. She caught sight of a small piece of metal behind them and looked at her reflection. Her eyes were as normal as could be.

"Easy," the Doctor said calmly. "You had a bad fall and hit your head."

Emily turned to face the Doctor again, shaking slightly from the sudden onrush of memories. "What happened?"

"The girl you went to check on," Emelia piped up, "well, she grabbed you from behind and used the book, _Paranoia,_ to hypnotize you."

"Is she alright?" Emily asked, worried.

The Doctor looked at her, pain still etched in is eyes. "Emily, there is nothing I can do for them right now until I find out who is behind this and why. But right now, you should consider yourself lucky. You know the boy in the house? How is eyes were all white?"

Emily nodded. "What happened to Harry to make his eyes like that?"

"His eyes were rolled back so he couldn't see. A type of remote control hypnosis. The exact same thing would have happened to you if you had stared at the cover for much longer."

Emily felt real tears sprouting in her eyes, though she still reached her hand up to wipe them away and make sure they weren't blood. That nightmare was still making her shake and uneasy. "So he's dead?"

The Doctor shook his head. "More of a coma for getting to many signals to the brain."

Emily nodded, well that much was good. But then again, who knew how long someone could stay in a coma for?

"The same thing happens to the people holding the books," the Doctor continued. "Too many signals to the brain and you blow a fuse. Not one that could kill you though."

"So, they're going to be alright?" Emily asked. "Do you promise?"

The Doctor gave her a long look, as if struggling with himself. After several long minutes he finally nodded. "I promise. When this is over, they'll be fine."

Emily nodded, giving him a sincere look of gratitude. She looked around remembering that she had been in the front yard of Samantha's house when it happened. "So how did I get in the spaceship?"

"It's name is the TARDIS," the Doctor corrected her.

"We carried you."

Emily turned to look at Emelia, who had just spoken. Emelia was watching he, very much concerned. After a few minutes she spoke up again. "So what did you see? When you looked at the eyes, I mean?"

"What do you mean, what did she see?" the Doctor asked Emelia. "She saw a pair of eyes staring at her. What else could she have seen? It was only a few seconds before you pulled her away."

Emily, however, shook her head. "No, she's right. I did see something."

"You did?" the Doctor asked, his eyes squinting in surprise. "What did you see?"

Emily looked at the both of them before describing exactly what had happened. The darkness, the door, the white room, the blood, and her.

"You saw the Architect?" the Doctor asked.

Emily nodded. "That's what she called herself. She said, 'Time must be fulfilled. The future must be made. This is no longer the era of the Doctor, but of the Architect'." She looked at the Doctor. "What could she have meant by that?"

The Doctor didn't seem to be listening. He had gotten up again and was pulling out his sonic screwdriver.

"Doctor?"

Continued what he was doing before he half jumped back at sparks that started flying from whatever he was working on. When Emily stood up, she was finally able to see what he was doing. He was working on the book again.

"It's not just a camera. It wasn't just transmitting signals to the Architect like I thought it had." He put his sonic screwdriver back into his pocket. "It was sending signals to the victims, trying to gain information from them that way. Not just looking around trying to find someone."

"And it was looking for you?" Emelia asked.

The Doctor looked up at the two of them, mainly Emily. "If what she said was true, then yes."

"Why would I lie?" Emily asked. "What good would that do to lie? You're trying to help us. I wouldn't go around giving you false information."

"What happened to you occurred over a long period of time. You were only in contact with the transmitter for a few seconds," Emelia reasoned.

"That wouldn't matter," the Doctor answered. "The human brain can identify transmitted signals and pictures in a matter of seconds. It wouldn't have mattered if she was out for two seconds or two years." He turned his gaze back to Emily. "Did you tell her where I was?"

Emily quickly shook her head. "No, of course not."

"Emily," the Doctor began patiently. Emily could hear the desperation in his voice. "I need to know the truth. I won't be mad at you, but I really need to know. Did you tell her where I was?"

Once again Emily shook her head, unable to take her eyes away from his gaze. "No, Doctor," she answered truthfully. "I didn't."

The Doctor watched her carefully with his calculating gaze before he nodded. "Thank you."

"But if it was you she was looking for, why would she have made everything so obvious?"

Emily and the Doctor turned at Emelia's question that had broken their eye contact. She seemed startled by their sudden looks at her, but she stood her ground and repeated herself. "Why would she have made everything so obvious to you, Doctor? That someone was up to something?"

"The best way to find someone is to stand still and wait for them to come to you," the Doctor explained. "Give them reason to find you and they'll come. Drawn like a moth to a flame. You're blind to the whole situation until its too late."

"But its not too late," Emily said. It sounded as though the Doctor was giving up. She couldn't let him do that, not after he had just helped her. "It wasn't too late when you kept me from ending up like Harry had."

"No," he agreed. "But it was too close for comfort."

Emily could feel her temper rising. "This is all happening because of you! You can stop it, yet all you're going to do is give up?"

"I don't know where the Architect is," the Doctor admitted defeatedly. "I don't know how much further she will go before it ends unless I finally show myself. And I'm too much in the dark to do anything or have a plan."

"So, you'll just die?" Emelia asked. "For people you don't even know?"

Emily watched the Doctor. She could read him like a book though he didn't move. "But, you don't know she'll stop once she gets what she wants," she said. "You don't know she'll stop once she gets you."

The Doctor turned to her. "She might."

Emily couldn't believe he would give up this easily. She watched him as he hung his head again. She turned to look at Emelia, who was also watching the Doctor disbelievingly.

"Well if you won't do anything," Emelia replied finally, solid determination in her voice, "then I will." With that she stormed out of the spaceship running away from the both of them.

"Emelia!"

Emily followed her as far as the doors before turning back to the Doctor, her anger boiling over. He was simply standing there with his head hung.

"How could you do that?" she screamed at him. "How could you just let her run away like that? She's trying to help you! She's trying to help you and she could get killed because you refuse to do anything!"

"Because," the Doctor said, standing up to face her. There was no more failure in his voice or eyes. "I have to trust she can do something about it."

"You're a coward!"

"She's in charge of her own future. I have to believe she can change it before I do anything," he explained.

Emily's anger subsided slightly. Bewilderment filled its place. "What are you talking about?"

"Emelia's choice is what will change the future," he replied. "Emelia is the woman before she becomes 'The Architect'."


	8. A Sentimental Past

Disclaimer: The Doctor Who ideas, main characters, and places all mentioned in the BBC show do not belong to me. They belong to BBC. The only things that belong to me are the new characters and the story line. Enjoy.

* * *

_Doctor Who: The Time Architect_

Chapter 7: A Sentimental Past

"What?"

Emily stared at the Doctor in disbelief. There was no way an ordinary girl like her could cause this much mayhem, let alone time travel. Was there?

"She's 'The Architect'," the Doctor repeated.

"And how in the high heavens did you figure that out?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I'm clever."

"Right," she mumbled. She reached up and touched her head, which still hurt quite a bit. "How long was I out for?"

"Oh not too long, considering the bump you had. I'd say only about a half an hour."

"What happened?" she inquired. "I mean, I remember seeing the book, and everything, but what happened after that?"

The Doctor took a deep breath. "Well, using my superior knowledge about electrotransmitic hypnosis, I disengaged the transmission with my handy dandy sonic screwdriver. Luckily no one saw, so Emelia and I carried you into the TARDIS-"

"Which is your spaceship?" Emily asked.

"Yes," he answered. Emily smiled; she could tell by the look on his face he was slightly annoyed that she had interrupted him in the middle of his rant.

"Anyway," the Doctor continued. "I asked Emelia a few questions and by that knowledge found out she would soon become 'The Architect'."

"'The Time Architect'," Emily corrected. "That's what she referred herself to in that vision-dream-thing I had." She wasn't sure what else to call it.

"Electromagnetic hypnosis," the Doctor reminded her.

"Right," Emily sighed.

She leaned back against one of the pillars holding the ship up and looked around. It looked the same as when she had last been inside the ship, but somehow different, more welcoming than before somehow. She was somewhat surprised the Doctor wasn't still telling her she couldn't help.

"What made you change your mind?" she asked. "About me?"

The Doctor looked up from the controls on the ship, which he had been working on. He was obviously confused by her question. "What are you talking about?

"I mean, before you didn't want me getting involved," Emily explained. "Now you don't seem to mind as much."

The Doctor turned back to his nobbs and switches. "You seemed like you could help."

"Is that the only reason?" she asked.

The Doctor looked up, either not hearing her or pretending he couldn't hear her. "How did you know what a paradox was?" he asked.

"Oh." Emily was slightly taken back by the suddenness by, what seemed like, a random question. "I read about it in a book somewhere. A science fiction book."

"Was it any good?" he asked.

"The book?" Emily was rather confused by this sudden discussion. Where had it come from so suddenly?

"Yes, the book," he replied.

Emily shrugged. She honestly didn't care for the book. In contrast, she found the entire idea of aliens and everything that had been going on both terrifying and fascinating simultaneously somehow.

She watched the doctor fidget with his multiple gadgets on the control panel. There was something about him. He seemed so lonely and mysterious.

"Do you always travel alone?" she asked him.

The Doctor's hand slipped on a switch, and there was a sudden jolt of the TARDIS, which sent Emily flying into the control panel and the Doctor into the railing. He quickly ran back to the control panel and flipped the switch and the wild movement of the ship stopped.

Emily watched the Doctor carefully. She could see in his eyes that her words, though merely an honest question, had erupted some uncalled-for nostalgia.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No," he answered over her apology. "Not always. Just recently."

"Where are they now?" she asked, hoping she wasn't intruding on his private thoughts.

"She went home," he replied, never looking at Emily. "She had to go back home."

Emily merely nodded, inquiring no further. She could tell she had hit a soft spot, something he had well hidden from her when she had known him. She realized that it was rude of her to intrude upon something so personal when she had hardly known him, save for the past few days. And still she didn't know him enough to really ask him such personal questions. For this she chastised herself.

"I'm sorry," she apologized again.

The Doctor shook his head. "Nah, its alright. They were good times. Always dangerous but still good times." He gave her a smile that she could see right through.

"Have you ever thought of having another friend with you?" she asked before she could stop herself.

"Why?" the Doctor asked. "Do you want to come?"

"No!" she replied, maybe a little to quickly. "I mean, I don't know. I was simply asking you if you ever thought about having someone else to help you?"

She honestly had never given the idea much thought. The idea of being away from her home with all the people she loved was sad. Then again, her life was at a point where this could be a breath of fresh air, the freshest air in fact. Something new and exciting, where you didn't know what would happen next when you stepped out of the spaceship.

Her attention turned once again away from her thoughts as he spoke up.

"Every place and time I travel to is dangerous," he explained. "There's always a risk. A risk of getting hurt. A risk of loosing someone. A risk of loosing yourself. But every person who has traveled with me would tell you the same thing."

"What's that?" she asked.

"It is all worth while in the end," he said with a smile.

"Don't you ever get homesick?" she asked.

Emily regretted saying the words as soon as they left her mouth. She could read in his eyes that he was sentimental for his past. There was a sickening longing deep within them. It was like watching a parent whose child was being taken away.

"All the time," he answered truthfully.

"Don't you ever visit it?" she asked carefully after a pause.

Once again, he either didn't hear or chose not to; it was more likely the latter.

She felt sorry she had ever brought the subject up, considering how much it was upsetting him. She fell silent, no longer trusting herself to speak again. What if she said something else that would upset or offend the Doctor?

Several minutes passed in an uncomfortable silence. It soon became so unbearable that Emily had to say something even though she didn't trust herself to.

"Would you like me to leave? she asked.

The Doctor looked at her confused. "Why would I want you to leave?"

"I don't know," Emily mumbled, shrugging her shoulders. "Because of what I said? You were really upset by it-"

"What made you think I was upset by it?" he asked quickly, his voice turning high as it did when she first met him and questioned him.

"I could read your eyes," she admitted. "Something happened to your friends, in your past, that kills you when you remember it."

The Doctor turned his gaze back to the control panel. After a few minutes he finally spoke, though his voice void of emotion, his hand running through his hair as it did when he had a hard time getting things out the way he wanted them to. "The last few comrades I had, well, it was a bit hard to say goodbye."

"They were close to you," Emily commented.

The Doctor said nothing, he merely looked at her again. His gaze was as it had been the first time he met her.

"How do you know so much about me?" he asked.

Emily shook her head. "I don't."

"But you can read me like you've known me for a long time," the Doctor interjected.

Emily gave a small smile. "I've lost people who are close to me," she admitted. Since she had interrogated the Doctor on his personal life, she felt it was only fair for her to return the favor.

"My mum died when I was nine. Soon after, Dad left my sister and I alone by then. We've had to make it for the past few years. Anna dropped out of school to try to find a job so she could pay the bills. She wouldn't let me do the same though. The only problem is, she can never seem to find a career, let alone keep one." She let out a small laugh.

"I am sorry," the Doctor admitted.

"Why?"

"Because loosing someone is a hard thing to go through," the Doctor replied.

Emily let out a small chuckle. "No kidding." She always thought back to the day her father walked out. He never said why, he just up and disappeared one day, every one of his possessions packed and gone. All he left was a small note on the kitchen table explaining he hadn't been kidnapped and some money to help them with the next few bills that came up. She and Anna had never heard a word from him in years.

"Why are you blaming yourself?" he asked.

Emily looked up at him. He had a sincere, yet stony look in his eyes, as if what he said was more of a command than a question.

"I'm not," Emily replied, shifting slightly where she stood, unable to meet the Doctor's gaze.

"Yes you are," he replied.

After a second or two she finally gathered the courage to glance at him, but the look he was giving her forced her to look away again.

"Why do you think it was your fault?"

Emily's eyes twinged slightly and she quickly shut them tight, she didn't want to cry in front of the Doctor. After letting her stay she didn't want him to suddenly think she was weak.

"Anna and I couldn't be enough for him," she admitted finally with a shaky breath. "He wouldn't stay because he was too devastated mum had died."

She felt his arms close around her in a gentle embrace, hugging her. It was then Emily realized she was bawling onto his shoulder tears she had held back for so many years. How could she do that in front of a complete stranger? She had hardly known him for a few days.

He pulled away a bit quicker than she would have liked; having a shoulder to cry on was a much needed relief. However she got the feeling he was slightly uncomfortable with the situation of comforting her, that he wasn't really a touchy-feely kind of person.

"So, what do we do now?" she asked.

"We move on," he replied.

Emily shook her head. "No, I mean about Emelia. 'The Architect'?" She felt bad she hadn't specified herself for changing the topic. The Doctor, however, seemed stuck between relieved and disappointed she had done so.

"Oh, right," he replied, going back to his control panel. "That."

Emily gave a chuckle. "Distracted much?"

The Doctor replied with a look that clearly said 'stop it.' She complied and fell silent, still smiling to herself though.

"So are we going to help her? Or are we just going to let nature take its course?" she asked. She would have preferred to help; she wanted her friends and sister back stat.

"Well," he said. "I need to give her a chance before I interfere."

"And if she makes a mistake?"

The Doctor didn't get a chance to answer, however. The lights in the TARDIS began to flash and an alarm began going off. There was a jolt and Emily was throne onto the metal grate floor once again. She winced against the pain before looking at the Doctor, who was holding onto the controls and pushing buttons like their lives depended on it. After a second everything went quiet again, as well as the lights staying on and the rocking of the ship ceasing.

"What in Hell was that?"

"I don't know," the Doctor admitted, looking around. "But whatever it was, it can't be good."

* * *


	9. The Truth Within

Disclaimer: The Doctor Who ideas, main characters, and places all mentioned in the BBC show do not belong to me. They belong to BBC. The only things that belong to me are the new characters and the story line. Enjoy.

* * *

_Doctor Who: The Time Architect_

Chapter 8: The Truth Within

The Doctor ran off into the heart of the ship his footsteps echoing in the corridors as he continued to talk at his usual top speed.

"What happened to you, girl? No damage in the main drive. No stall. No back up. I don't understand, what could have caused a power corruption like that?"

"Are you talking to me or the ship?" Emily called out, rubbing the back of her neck. She had gotten a slight kink in it when she had fallen to the ground.

The Doctor's head popped out from a hole in the floor which he had just jumped down into. "The TARDIS. Why?"

"You said 'she'," Emily commented.

"Your point is?" he asked, climbing up and replacing the metal grating. "All ships are known as a 'she.' The_ Lusitania_ was a she. The _R. M. S. Titanic_ was a she."

"Do you really think now is the best time to be comparing your spaceship to sea vessels, especially two who sunk to the bottom of the North Atlantic? One was torpedoed and the other destroyed by a hunk of ice."

"Good point," he muttered to himself, going back to the controls again.

Emily walked over to watch what he was doing. There were so many switches, knobs, dials, gears, and other do-dads that she couldn't come up with a list long enough that could possibly imagine what they were for.

"Do you know what happened?" she asked him.

"Not any more than five seconds ago," he replied, his eyes glued to the screen in front of him.

Emily watched him for a moment, her eyes sliding out of focus until they were staring off into space, remembering what the Doctor had said about Emelia. Although she had crept her out on their first meeting, she still couldn't believe that she was going to turn into this horrible person who hypnotized and destroyed everything. On the contrary she seemed rather keen in helping the entire situation.

"-what could have possibly caused a disruption? It just doesn't make sense-"

No, it didn't make sense, Emily though. Why would the Doctor let her go off on her own to handle this without any help? There was an even greater risk of her being turned, wasn't there? Unless...

"-what? No, no! No! Now I've lost the coordinates!"

"You were tracking her, weren't you?" Emily asked suddenly. "That's why you let her go off on her own. That way she could unknowingly take you to where her paradox was. That's was the reason you acted like you had given up, wasn't it?"

The Doctor looked up at her. "It took you that long to figure it out, did it?"

"Oh, shut up," Emily retorted, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Yes, I was planning to," he admitted, panicking. "But now with the jolt I lost power for a minute and the tracking coordinates are gone. There's no way to find out where she is now."

Emily watched him closely. If he was able to figure out she would become the Architect in less than a half of an hour, surely they could use the tools they had to find out where the future Architect, right? It was a few more moments before she spoke again.

"Alright, alright. We just need to take a breath and calm down-"

"I am calm!" he said angrily.

Emily raised her eyebrows and looked at him with an expression that clearly read, 'Oh, really?'

The Doctor watched the screen for a moment more before turning his full attention on her.

"You're clever, you said so yourself-" the Doctor gave a small smile at this "-you proved it. You figured out who the Architect was. We can figure out where she is."

The Doctor gave his quirky smile, "Well, it might take a bit longer, but I do love playing the detective."

Emelia gave a small laugh. His odd sense was no longer annoying, but rather enjoyable. It gave the situation a small sense of humor rather than just making the entire thing seem like a joke.

"Now," Emily started. "We know Emelia is the Architect, but not yet. And we know that both her and the book are connected with the paradox Architect." She snatched up _Paranoia_ and turned back to the Author's page again. She read over it once again, mumbling, "there has to be something else in here."

_Ima Future Legend was born far away, having no real fame until her novel _Paranoia_ was published this year. She seeks for higher and greater achievements in the future where she knows she will create history and make her future prosperous._

Emily sighed in disappointment, there was nothing there. Just her pen name and-

"That's it!" she cried excitedly.

The Doctor gave her a quizzical look. "What's it?" he asked.

"The pen name is it," Emily replied. "Lots of Authors don't just make up pen names. They use anagrams."

"Oh, that's brilliant!" the Doctor exclaimed, his smile even bigger, showing off his toothy grin.

She looked at the Doctor. "Do you have something to right with?"

Not so much to her surprise, he pulled a pen from his pocket and handed it to her. Without hesitation she turned to one one of the blank pages in the book and wrote:

IMA FUTURE LEGEND

Under that, she wrote 'EMELIA', crossing out each letter it corresponded to.

"Now what's left is 'F-U-T-U-R-E-G-N-D'," she replied.

The Doctor bend over her handwriting and examined the final letters. "Assuming we're not using a middle name, nine letters can be a number of..."

The Doctor's voice drifted off once again in Emily's head. She was looking at the letters a little differently than he was. She quickly grabbed up the pen again and pulled the book away, hunching over it and writing again.

"Hey," the Doctor said, watching her.

Emily, however, didn't listen. She wrote down the letters one at a time until they spelled out. She had to double check the letters again, but there was no mistake.

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"Underguft," she replied, her voice slightly shaky and soft. "Emelia Underguft."

Everything began falling into place like pieces of a puzzle. Mrs Underguft had known from her past that the Doctor would meet up with Emily. That was why she moved into the neighborhood; she had the time, and she had the location. She even said to Emily that she had a daughter who would occasionally come by? No doubt she was talking about the younger Emelia.

"Do you know an Underguft?" he asked, not entirely convinced.

"Yeah," she replied, a little breathless from all the streams of thoughts rolling around in her mind. She looked back up at the Doctor. "She lives on my street."

The Doctor watched her, "Well isn't she a clever little planner?" He moved back over to the controls and started turning knobs again.

"But wouldn't we be walking right into a trap?" she asked. "She would have wanted me to figure this out so we could walk in on her, wouldn't she?"

"Well then,"the Doctor said with a smile, his hand on a switch. "Its a good thing I'm on your side then, isn't it?" He paused another second before flipping the switch. The entire ship jolted, but this time Emily was ready for it. She was holding onto the large control panel, watching the TARDIS work its way to wherever they were headed.

After a few minutes and a few more flipped switches, the TARDIS finally stopped. Emily let go of the control panel and glanced at the doors before turning to the Doctor.

"Where are we?"

"We're paying a visit to this Ms. Underguft you spoke of," he replied, heading towards the doors.

"But we're a giant police box!" Emily argued, following him quickly. "Shouldn't we protect ourselves?" This caused the Doctor stopped in his tracks.

"Good point."

He hurried to the back of the spaceship. Emily couldn't see exactly what was going on but when he came back, he held out what he had been looking for to her.

"A frying pan?" she asked incredulously, taking the pan and giving the Doctor a skeptical look.

"What?" he asked. "You did a good job defending yourself the first time we met." He made a gawking sound when she tossed it aside. "I served Marie Antoinette bacon and eggs with that pan!" he protested.

"What about you?" Emily asked, ignoring him.

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver to show her.

"A dinky piece of metal that lights up and makes weird noises is going to save you against a possible attack?" she asked, once again skeptical.

"Never underestimate a sonic screwdriver," the Doctor said going over to the entrance once again, Emily right on his heels, before opening the door.

Once the doors opened there was a loud explosion. Emily was forced once again against the hard metal grate, this time the Doctor had pushed her down. Sparks flew at the newly damaged control.

"No!" the Doctor cried, looking up at it. "That's going to take me ages to fix!"

Emily's eyes, however, had wandered once again toward the entrance. "I don't think that's the worst of our problems right now, Doctor."

What looked like a large gun was being pointed directly at her and the Doctor. She was a bit petrified at the moment, so it took her a few seconds to see who exactly was holding it and get a bearing of her surroundings.

"Welcome, Emily, Doctor," a voice Emily recognized called out from within the dim basement of where the TARDIS had landed. "I've been expecting the both of you, for a very, very long time."


	10. Destiny

Disclaimer: The Doctor Who ideas, main characters, and places all mentioned in the BBC show do not belong to me. They belong to BBC. The only things that belong to me are the new characters and the story line. Enjoy.

* * *

_Doctor Who: The Time Architect_

Chapter 9: Destiny

Emily wasn't surprised, as her eyes adjusted to the dark, that person holding the very large gun-looking weapon was Mrs. Underguft. Well, Emelia as she now knew. Her eyes shone through the dim with victory and glory. A smirk curled on her lips in glee at the two people who lay scattered on the ground, just another reminder of her power over them at the moment.

What Emily did find surprising was the way the Doctor handled the situation.

"Brilliant gamma ray projector, Ms. Underguft," the Doctor replied standing. He offered his hand to Emily, who took a few minutes to actually take it and stand up shakily. Unlike the Doctor it seemed, she was extremely terrified of a large weapon being pointed at her.

"Architect," Underguft replied cocking her gun, aiming it directly at the Doctor. "And don't forget it."

"Of course, Architect," the Doctor replied, making his way over to her without a care in the world. He especially didn't seem to care her weapon pointed at him or that even she was holding a weapon.

"Doctor!" Emily hissed. He was insane. The Architect kept the gun pointed at him threateningly.

"Oh, she's not going to shoot me," he said, a clever smirk on his face. "Because it takes a total of ten minutes for a frequency ray projector to reload after shooting. And after frying the control panel of the TARDIS, I say you still have about seven minutes left. Is that right?"

The Architect glowered at him. "I have other methods," she said, flipping a switch on the side of the gun and pulling the trigger. A small static shot flew out and hit the doctor in the hand.

"Ow!" he yelled, jumping back from her in surprise and pain. "Oh, that stings! What is that?"

"It looks like a tazer," Emily commented.

The Doctor winced, looking down at the spot on his hand that had now tinted blue from the shock. "That would make sense," he mumbled. "It's all numb now. It actually feels kind of cool when you shake it a bit." He gave his goofy smile and started shaking his hand in the air.

"Shut up!" the Architect yelled.

The Doctor gave her a quirky smile again. "Oh, am I taking away from your triumph speech? Sorry, go ahead."

"You're going to be sorry you ever said that," the Architect said, raising the gun. "Because in about two minutes you'll be dead."

"Well," the Doctor commented, scratching his head. "If I'm dead then I won't be sorry because I won't feel anything."

"Doctor, is now really the time?" Emily could tell the Architect was more than looking forward to hitting him with the ray gun, and she didn't like the idea of him leaving her alone and vulnerable like this.

"Well, lets see," the Doctor mumbled, sifting through his pockets. "Ah! Here it is!" He pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

"Ah, that won't work," the Architect smirked, flipping the switch on her gun again. "I've deadlocked the gun so it can't be disabled. So adieu." With that she pulled the trigger.

"Emily get down!" the Doctor yelled, pulling up his sonic screwdriver and aiming it at the burst of energy aimed at him.

Emily did as she was told, falling to the ground with her hands covering her head. A tear filled her squinted eyes against the bright fire of the gun the Architect held. But what good was a sonic screwdriver against a massive weapon such as one the Architect was holding, Emily asked herself.

Apparently it was a good match, because when Emily glanced up nothing had happened. There was no huge explosion like the last time, no triumphant expression on the Architect's face. But most importantly, there was no dead Doctor.

"Simple physics," the Doctor explained once the ray died down and the Architect's eyes grew wide. "Canceling frequencies isn't rocket science, especially when you know the frequency. Gamma rays have a distinct frequency."

At that moment there was a bang upstairs and a light from the top of the stairs glowed. There was the sound of hurried footsteps and a voice descending the stairs.

"Architect! Wait! I don't think-" Emelia's voice paused, as did her stride when she realized who all was there.

"Well done," the Architect says. "You're on your way to changing all of time and space. Bringing Emily and the Doctor here."

Emelia shook her head. "No... I never told them where you were!"

The Architect shook her head, a triumphant look in her eyes. "No, but you set things in motion by giving the girl the book in the first place."

Emily looked confused for a second before a light bulb went off in her head.

"You! You gave my sister the book! You knew this would happen!"

Emelia quickly shook her head. "No, I didn't know. I didn't know the books took control and hurt people. I didn't know all of this would happen. She only told me that by people reading the books would cause the future to be better."

"And it will!" The Architect shouted in triumph. "Better for us. You'll become a legend. The Universe will be yours!"

"The Universe is going to shatter by you coming here," the Doctor shouted. He then turned to Emelia, his voice turning calm. "No one is blaming you, Emelia. You can still change the future. Time can be rewritten. You're scared of what you see in your future. But it doesn't have to be like that. You can change it."

"If you listen to this fool," the Architect began, "you'll be living your life an unwanted nobody who does nothing for her life."

The Doctor refused to break eye contact from Emelia. "That's not true. Everybody does something that changes the course of the Universe."

"Silence!" the Architect screeched, tazering the Doctor again, this time in his chest. The Doctor let out a cry before falling to the ground unconscious.

"Doctor!" Emily cried, hurrying next to him. She put her hand and head on his chest. There was something strange. Her head, on the left side of his chest where the tazer had hit him, had no heartbeat at all. But under the right side she could feel a heartbeat. Was it that his heart was on the wrong side? Then again, he was an alien. Could he have two hearts? At least he was still breathing. He was only unconscious then.

"Doctor? Doctor! wake up!" she ordered, shaking him slightly. He refused to wake up.

She was alone.

"You cannot escape your destiny," the Architect said, moving over to where her young self was. "You must embrace it."

"You don't have to," Emily heard herself say before she could stop herself. The Doctor was out at the moment; she had to do what she could.

The Architect turned to face Emily, slightly confused. Her voice was no more than a whisper "You never said that. You're not supposed to say anything."

"You can change the course of the universe," Emily was looking right at Emelia. The Doctor didn't give up on Emelia, and she trusted the Doctor. "It's your choice. You can choose not to become the Architect."

"Why are you speaking like this!" the Architect screeched, cocking her gun again and pointing it at Emily. "You're supposed to be silent! You're supposed to be crying about going home! You're not supposed to speak!"

"Emelia, you can be somebody great," Emily whispered, a tear forming in her eye. She knew she was going to die. But it would be for a good cause. If she could get this woman to change her mind, then maybe in some parallel world, things would be different. "You can be happy, and unafraid of your future. Of this monster who believes in destiny."

"Silence!"

A click of the trigger signaled her attack, followed by the bright light of the fire. There was a scream and for the second time that day things went by all too fast and soon she felt her vision grow black.

_A soft voice was floating in her ear, and once again she found herself in a dark place where she could see her hands and arm perfectly, but everything else was black._

_"Shit."_

_The last time she was here it was like a horrible nightmare, meeting the Architect and her eyes bleeding. However, one wipe of her hand against her eyes informed her eyes were not bleeding and although the voice she heard was familiar, it was not the Architect's voice. It was someone soothing, someone who gave her courage and confidence. Even though she didn't know whose voice it was._

_"Hello?"_

_"Emily," the maternal voice whispered. "You must go back. You've begun a new adventure, you've changed time. You've changed the universe."_

_"Who's there?" Emily called out, squinting around, trying to see through the darkness to little avail. The darkness was too thick. When she received no answer, she asked into the darkness. "How could I have changed time? I didn't do anything."_

_"You chose to say something than say nothing. You chose to speak up. You changed the universe. You're voice made Emelia act. Its time for you to return."_

_Who ever's voice this was, it gave Emily an odd sensation. She had done something to change the universe, she had done something significant._

Light began to flood the basement, so much so that Emily had to squint before she opened her eyes. Her head hurt so much. She sat up slightly and looked around, surprised to see the Doctor was awake, and leaning over the fallen Emelia.

"What happened," Emily asked, coming over to them.

The Doctor looked up at her before looking back at Emelia, a sadness in her eyes. "She pushed you out of the way. I woke up just as the Architect tried to shoot you with the gun."

"She saved me?" Emily asked, looking down at her still savior. Emelia exchanged her life for Emily's.

"She defeated the monster inside her. But she did so by giving up her life," the Doctor said. "When she died here, so did her future self." He turned to look at the other woman on the ground, sprawled in the same pose as Emelia. It was painful, and slightly creepy to see.

"I wish I could have done something," Emily whispered finally. "If I hadn't have said anything, the Architect wouldn't have tried to shoot me. And she wouldn't have risked her life."

"And if you didn't," the Doctor replied, "then what would have happened?"

Emily didn't have an answer for that. What would have happened? She didn't know.

"Come on," the Doctor said, standing up and helping Emily up as well. He led her back into the TARDIS. After closing the doors he flipped a few switches on the control and they began moving again.

"Where are we going?" Emily asked.

"I'm taking you home," the Doctor said. "So you can say hello to all of your friends."

"They're alright?" she asked, her mood lifting. If her sister and friends were alright that was wonderful news.

The Doctor nodded, going back to the controls. Emily's elated feeling sunk slightly. That meant leaving the Doctor. And within so little time he had taught her so much.

"What about you?" she asked.

The Doctor looked up. "Me? Oh, I'll just roam around the Universe." He watched her for a moment before adding. "Though you were a tremendous help to me. If you're interested you might be able to help me out again. Only if you were interested of course."

"Are you asking me to come with you?" Emily inquired.

"I suppose I am," the Doctor said, revealing his quirky smile. "See the stars. Save the universe. It's an adventure all the time."

Emily thought about this. It would be an amazing adventure to see the stars, visit galaxies, anything else within the entirety of the Universe. But what about her family? Her friends? She belonged home, didn't she?

"So, what do you think?" the Doctor asked. "Would you like to come?"


	11. Epilogue: Never the Same

Disclaimer: The Doctor Who ideas, main characters, and places all mentioned in the BBC show do not belong to me. They belong to BBC. The only things that belong to me are the new characters and the story line. Enjoy.

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_Doctor Who: The Time Architect_

Epilogue: Never the Same

_"So what do you think? Would you like to come?"_

The next day rolled past as if in slow motion. People went about their daily business as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. To them it had been a hoax, not even that. It had never happened.

"Can you go shopping for me today, Em? I have another interview."

Emily paid no attention to her sister, nor to her friends who had called every five minutes wanting to go see a movie or go out for ice cream. Their lives went on unchanged. But Emily would never, could never forget.

The Doctor's words echoed nonstop in her head. He had asked her to come with him, be his companion on his journey to save time, space and the universe. On some occasions he had saved parallel universes.

He seemed like such a lonely man, like he needed someone with him. She wondered what had happened to his previous time-traveling buddy. She never asked, though. She had learned that some things were better left unknown.

She walked through the streets, the soft breeze blowing around like any other day. But no longer would it be any other day, could be any other day. Nothing again would be ordinary. Ever.

Birds flew past, lovebirds hung in the park, and still Emily walked on as if no one was left in the world but her. The words of the Doctor never leaving her head.

_"So what do you think? Would you like to come?"_

She never had given the thought to time travel before, and now she was given this huge opportunity. A dangerous path she could take, or fall into the same old rhythm as her life had been before the Doctor changed it. No matter whether she had chosen to go with him or stay, the future wold never be the same as what it would have been if he hadn't come.

She stopped at the fountain in the park, eyes on he who stood before her. He had the same quirky smile on his face, and was leaning against the TARDIS.

Emily couldn't help but smile back. She shifted the weight of the backpack on her back which she had packed before arriving at the park.

The Doctor opened the door and stood aside. "Time and space awaits."

Emily, giving a laugh, ran past the Doctor into the depths of the awaiting TARDIS. The Doctor closed the door behind them and within seconds the blue police box disappeared into the depths of time and space.

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**A/N: Alas! It ends. :( However, Emily going with the Doctor means there will be at least one sequel! :)The title is **_**Magus's Mirrors**_**, so if you liked **_**The Time Architect**_**, hopefully you'll enjoy the sequel as well. Thanks again to all who read and submitted reviews.**


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